Chipmunk Campout by Kevin Lausch Oct 2022

Another great Mountain Sun campout is now in the books. The Chipmunk class camped out on Thursday, October 6th, and was blessed with perfect camping weather.

Often parents ask, “What happens to Mountain Sun Community School students after Mountain Sun?” Many parents of our students grew up in traditional school systems and are concerned about outcomes for our graduates and how well the Mountain Sun middle school prepares students for high school and beyond. “The proof is in the pudding,” said Becky Langerman, Director of Learning. “I’ll let them speak for themselves.” MSCS graduates and parents of graduates came together to speak about their experiences with middle school at Mountain Sun and the transition to life afterward.

The Monarch Class (grades 4-6) went on their first camping trip of the year in September at the Big Bald Banding Station operated by the Blue Ridge Bird Observatory (BRBO). The BRBO is “dedicated to the conservation and protection of birds in the southern Appalachians through monitoring, education, and field research.” The students had the opportunity to participate with the researchers in netting, banding, and releasing the birds for the purpose of tracking bird populations.

Music classes have been as interesting, humbling, and challenging as anything else in the past year, for both myself and the students. But a challenge is often what we need in order to trust our creativity and dig deeper than we ever have before…

It’s hard not to feel inspired walking into a Montessori classroom. They are, by nature, inviting and beautiful. Children move through the classroom with ease, choosing works from shelves, caring for their environment and working independently and with great focus…

With the onset of Covid-19 now over a year ago, everyone has been impacted one way or another. The pandemic has caused isolation, anxiety, fear, confusion and a major disruption of daily routines. As educators and parents, of course our focus is on these questions: how is this going to affect our children and what can we do to help?

Our breath, our best friend, always with us, our life force. Take a minute to notice the fluidity and subtlety of your breath right now, before reading any further…

For me, one of the greatest parts of being a teacher at Mountain Sun Community School is that we are able to educate organically. The word “organically” has perhaps been reinvented many times, but in my opinion, it is the best way to describe how we teach the children in the Acorn class: we start with a direction and destination, then let our young children find the best route to get there…

Regardless of one’s opinions about Daylight Savings Time (DST) and whether it should or should not exist, it is coming. On Sunday, March 14th. Brace yourself and set a reminder on your phone. We will all lose one hour in the day, and for many of us, that means losing an hour of sleep…